Liverpool booked their place in the fifth round of the FA Cup following a 1-0 win against Shrewsbury Town in the replays of the fourth round last night.
The League One club held the Reds to a 2-2 draw last month to force a second-leg, and were close to getting a victory against a young Liverpool side – their youngest-ever starting line-up – until VAR interfered.
At 0-0, Shaun Whalley thought he had given the visitors the lead after heading home from inside the six-yard area, but his header was disallowed when VAR ruled that Scott Golbourne was inches offside in the build-up.
The Anfield outfit, led by under-23 boss Neil Critchley had the last laugh in the end, with Ro-Shaun Williams’s 75th-minute own goal following a Neco Williams’ cross separating both sides.
Liverpool legend and Rangers manager Steven Gerrard was pleased with the performance of the kids, and here is how he reacted to the victory on Instagram:
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Congratulations to the young redmen last night ❤️
A post shared by Steven Gerrard (@stevengerrard) on Feb 4, 2020 at 11:24pm PST
Liverpool will now face Chelsea in the round of 16, and it will be interesting to see if manager Jurgen Klopp will stick with the youngsters for the huge clash.
With the first-team away on winter break, yesterday’s line-up consisted mainly of the under-23s, with seven of the outfield players teenagers as Liverpool named a team with an average age of 19 years and 102 days.